


Tiger by the Tail

by devilinthedetails



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Choosing Sides, Diplomacy, F/M, Family, Gen, Loyalty, Politics, Trust, Understanding, interracial couple, negotiation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 12:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16408607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: In politics, Jon demands Roald choose a side.





	Tiger by the Tail

Tiger by the Tail

“My lord of Genlith has agreed to a three percent increase in his yearly funding of Your Majesties’ schools in exchange for a seven percent reduction in the number of soldiers his fief would be expected to supply in times of war,” Roald informed his parents with a weary satisfaction in his voice. His, his parents, and Shinko were seated in a private parlor of the royal quarters, debriefing after a banquet heavy in lobbying for support for the reforms the king and queen would fight to implement at this year’s great congress of nobles that would start in two days. 

“That’s excellent news.” Queen Thayet’s smile was filled with the same warm approval Shinko had felt blaze within her when she watched her husband persuade the intractably conservative Lord of Genlith to provide increased funding for the schools he was notorious for despising. Roald, she thought, might not have inherited his father’s passion or charisma, but sometimes that seemed to be an advantage in dealing with the conservatives. When he made his points in his level tone with his always understated authority, he sounded more moderate–more matter-of-fact–than as if he were determined to overthrow the social system that ruled their world. The fact that he was also more inclined to listen to the conservatives–listening more than he talked as he did with everyone else–likewise gave the conservatives the impression that they and their manifold concerns were being heard. At such times, Shinko would stand beside him, silent save for the expected pleasantries, and nobody would know how when she flashed her fan, Roald could read the messages she had written there, or how she murmured in ears of particular conservative’s wives, sensitive to the fact that men were more receptive to certain ideas from their wives than from royalty. “We were prepared to reduce his levy of soldiers by up to ten percent.” 

“I know, Mama.” Roald answered his mother’s smile with his own slight one. “Now we won’t have to do that.” 

“How do you manage to create such bargains with conservatives, son?” King Jonathan’s expression, Shinko saw, was the faintly bemused one he wore whenever he couldn’t quite fathom how he had raised a heir so different from himself. 

“I listen to them, Papa.” There might, Shinko noted, have been a hint of asperity in her husband’s tone. His slight smile vanished. Nobody stiffened Roald’s spine faster than his father. He could be boundlessly patient with carping conservatives, but he became clipped with his father much quicker. 

“Implying that I don’t?” King Jonathan’s eyebrow arched in a question mark. 

With anyone else, Shinko was convinced Roald would have responded with a polite reassurance that he had meant no such thing, but with his father, he stood his ground. “Implying that the conservatives don’t believe you do.”

“I’m not asking what the conservatives believe.” King Jonathan gave a dismissive wave of his hand that suggested the conservatives were no more than pesky insects. “I’m asking what you believe if you’ll be bold enough to state your opinion without your usual diplomatic hedging of important issues.” 

“I don’t believe my opinion matters to the conversation.” Roald’s chin rose. “I believe it’s the opinions of the conservatives that matter in the discussion at hand.” 

“I listen to the conservatives. They are the ones who refuse to listen to your mother and me.” King Jonathan’s chin rose as well, and Shinko wondered if he and Roald could see how alike they looked, or if they were too focused on their differences to spot the similarities. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to know what side you’re on, Roald, when you make comments so sympathetic to the conservatives.” 

“I’m on nobody’s side.” Roald pinched the bridge of his nose in another strained gesture Shinko knew he had inherited from his father. “Why must there always be sides with you, Papa?”

“That’s the nature of politics.” King Jonathan’s tone was a resigned testimony to the political battles he had spent his reign waging. “You must choose a side and stick to it. All this insistence on neutrality will only make it more painful for you when you do at last pick a side.” 

Roald paused before replying in calm, careful voice, “I chose my side long ago. I’m on Tortall’s side. Just as you are. Just as the conservatives you distrust so much are.” 

“Fancy words that only mean you aren’t on my side.” King Jonathan spun on his heel and marched toward bedchamber he shared with the queen. “I can’t trust you to have my back when I fight for my reforms.” 

“I just spent hours negotiating for your reforms,” snapped Roald as King Jonathan slammed the bedchamber door, ending the conversation. Taking a deep breath as if the air in the parlor were suddenly stifling, Roald continued with curt courtesy, addressing his mother and Shinko, “If you’ll excuse me, I need some fresh air.” 

He didn’t wait for their permission before withdrawing to the balcony overlooking the Olorun. Hoping that the breeze off the river would cool his temper, Shinko watched him leave, swallowing a sigh. 

“I’m sorry you had to witness such discord, Shinko darling.” Queen Thayet didn’t bother to contain her sigh. “My husband does love Roald very much, but he doesn’t quite understand Roald, and that causes him much pain.” 

Shinko thought that it caused Roald more pain not to be understood by his father, but, since it would have sounded to confrontational to establish as much, she murmured instead, “You do understand Roald, though?” 

“I try but I don’t fully succeed, I’m afraid.” Queen Thayet’s crooked grin suggested her doubt that anyone could truly comprehend Roald. “Mothers don’t expect to fully understand their sons, however, and fathers do. That is what hurts my husband.”   
“Roald loves and honors his father.” Shinko felt that she had to defend her husband even if her mother-in-law hadn’t attacked him. No one could claim that Roald failed to fulfill his filial duties, she thought. “As he does you.” 

Before Queen Thayet could answer, Roald rejoined them. Bowing, he apologized to his mother formally and kissed her fingers. “I beg Your Majesty’s pardon for the part I played in this evening’s argument. With your leave, I’ll escort Shinko to our chambers and retire for the night.” 

In silence, she and Roald returned to their quarters. When Roald’s features remained cloudy as they slid beneath their covers and he didn’t confide in her, she made an effort to coax him out of his shell. Squeezing his fingers between her own, she whispered as if it were a secret, “Your father loves you, Roald, even if he doesn’t understand you.” 

“It’s not just that he doesn’t understand me, Shinko.” Roald’s fingers tightened around hers. “It’s that he doesn’t trust me. You heard him. He doesn’t know what side I’m on, and for him it’s always about sides since life is one big battlefield.” 

“Nonsense.” Shinko brushed her lips against his cheek soothingly. “Your father relied on you, my dear, to engage in very difficult negotiation with the Lord of Genlith, and he has done the same with other influential conservatives in the past. He would never have placed you in such a role if he didn’t trust you.” 

“He shunts the disagreeable task of negotiating with the conservatives he despises on me.” Roald’s face twisted sourly as if he had eaten a lemon. “Then he accuses me of fraternizing with the enemy.” 

“You’re exaggerating, and you aren’t being fair to your father.” Shinko clicked her tongue in mild reproach. “Try to understand your father’s perspective as you would endeavor to the viewpoint of a conservative who opposes him. When you do you might recognize that while you have the tiger by the tail, your father has the tiger by the head.” 

“Better to have the tiger by the tail than by the head, darling,” observed Roald sardonically. “Less chance of having one’s head bitten off by the tiger’s teeth, especially if someone else is holding onto the head.” 

“The Yamani have a story about two men who went hunting at night.” Shinko ignored his quip as she went on with her advice. “One caught a tiger by the tail, and the other the same tiger by the head. Since it was dark, neither could see what animal they had captured. Each described what they were touching and argued fiercely about what beast they had stumbled across until day broke. Then it dawned on them that they were both describing–and holding–different parts of the same great beast. That ended their debate.” 

“If they were holding a tiger, they wouldn’t live to see the dawn.” Roald seemed resolved to ignoring her point. “How much do you know about tigers, my dear?” 

“We don’t have any tigers in the Yamani Islands, but we learn all we need to know about them through the tales we hear from Jindazhen, where they do have tigers.” Shinko tapped his wrist with her finger. “Despite any quibbling over the characteristics of tigers, I suspect you understand the moral of my story.” 

“Perhaps I do.” By way of concession, Roald kissed her hair. “I’ll try to reconcile with my father tomorrow if it will please you, my love.” 

“Only try to reconcile with your father if it will please you”–Shinko gazed into the oceans of her husband’s eyes–“not me.” 

“Very well.” Roald wrapped her against his chest. “I’ll try to reconcile with my father because it’ll please me.”

At breakfast the next morning when they dined with the king and queen in the private royal quarters, Roald said, “Papa, regardless of our disagreements, I hope you realize that as far as there are sides I’m always on yours.” 

“As I am on yours.” There was a wry twinkle in King Jonathan’s gaze. “Perhaps it doesn’t harm either of us to be reminded of that from time to time.”


End file.
